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Getting at the Bigger Questions, Part 3.1: What Is Salvation?
Have you ever really thought about what, exactly, salvation entails? Doc Leland shares with us an e-mail exchange between himself and a friend in which they discuss this most central of theological concepts.
What Is Salvation?
In this continuation of our series on the "bigger questions," I reflect on a dialogue that took place between myself and a very dear colleague of mine (we'll call him "David") regarding a particularly sticky question, asked by believers and non-believers alike: What really is salvation?
A student had asked each of us our thoughts on this question. She had been a Christian since she was young. But in her evangelistic conversations with non-believers she kept being confronted with the same basic question: "So, what does this salvation thing mean, anyway?" I don't know, she thought. You just have to have it and that's why Jesus died … She felt her answers were inadequate, and sought our help.
David and I both addressed her question but came up with differing answers.
In the midst of answering her question David and I fell into some other discussions.
Below are a couple of interchanges that begin to describe that this essential doctrine of the Christian faith is indeed complex, and yet paradoxically simple. Is salvation a moment in time where we accept Christ as our savior, or is it something more? David believes that once we accept Christ, it launches us into a process in which we become even more "saved" throughout our lives. This has been a common argument in theological circles for years.
Listen in … I give you permission. Then give it some thought of your own and perhaps enter into the "salvation dialogue."
The Conversation
David:
"A major point in my class is that salvation is more than forgiveness and heaven-when-we-die. It is a life with a beginning, a middle and an end (a goal). I stress this because so many Christians separate salvation (understood as forgiveness of sins and escape from hell) from discipleship in the way of Christ, which has no foundation whatsoever in the New Testament."
Doc Leland:
I agree in principle here, but there are several issues that are being clouded. Salvation is, by definition, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternity with God when we die. That is clearly the message of both the Old and New Testaments (understanding that the term salvation is hard to separate from redemption, atonement and repentance).1
I also agree that with salvation comes the impetus for growth and development in the Christian walk/life. That's the "middle" part of the Christian life that you talk of here. I also agree that the church and individual Christians have forgotten the "middle" (the call to discipleship and growth in Him). However, I think it may be a massive blurring of the lines to redefine salvation to get at that problem. There are several parts to salvation. First we understand the saving grace offered through Christ's death. We must then repent of our sins, accept that grace. And then commit to daily surrender in order to live more holy and sanctified lives. That last commitment is the entrée into discipleship.
David:
"Forgiveness is a part of salvation, and heaven is the culmination of salvation. But there is a very, very important middle which is ignored by so many who call themselves born-again Christians. Also, the biblical concept of salvation includes more than the individual, in that God is saving 'a people' (the church) and the whole cosmos."
Doc Leland:
This statement, too, is packed with blurred lines. Yes, "forgiveness" is a part of salvation, but very clearly it is the primary focus of salvation. If we are not forgiven, discipleship doesn't matter. It wasn't good enough for Jesus just to teach about living a holy life. He actually had to die as the "perfect lamb" — to fulfill prophecy and rise from the grave. Only in light of His offering of forgiveness through His death do His lessons on living a holy and growing life mean anything. Without forgiveness, the "middle" part of the Christian life — discipleship — is pretty much a moot point.
You want to know why so many in churches have camped out at forgiveness? Because it is a very essential doctrine of the church. Admittedly, they have dropped the ball on the growth part, on discipleship. But I believe we are beginning to see change in that area — one that is essential to teach our students about, but NOT at the cost of confusing ourselves on the central Christian doctrine of forgiveness.
On the last comment above (about salvation being for more than the individual) I don't know that I disagree. Everything I read points me to the concept of salvation being offered to the cosmos, but when all is said and done, the individual human being must make that crucial choice for themselves. Trees don't make that choice. Planets don't make it. Even churches don't make it, though they do rely on it. As God's special creation, only we — not institutions or the lower parts of creation — have souls equipped to make a choice about our own salvation.
David:
I wanted to shout a loud "Amen" today … when I heard a fellow teacher say that the Jewish perspective on Salvation focuses on the "now," not on "eternal life" understood as something guaranteed in a future apart from what I am doing now.
Doc Leland:
You might have wanted to shout a loud "Amen," but by doing so you would have clearly sided with the "Jewish distortion" of Messianic belief. Why don't the Jews live for the future rewards of heaven? Because they are stuck (firmly and entrenched) in the traditions of the past and the concept of today — because they have no Messiah! The separation of the past, the now and the future is also a full-blown frontal attack on the transcendent nature of God. When we begin to draw such lines, we begin to fiddle with the nature of God and that is dangerous.
Does that mean that the church hasn't done the same sort of thing with its concern about the future? Sure they have. But my contention is this Jewish perspective on salvation goes almost as far in the opposite direction. And as a result they commit the exact same, except from the opposite direction. The answer to me is that, regarding salvation, the issues of "now" and "in the future" are not at all at odds with one another but in fact fit nicely together in God's plan for salvation. Yes, "now" does matter. We should love God and love our neighbors as ourselves — the two greatest commandments — right now. But I won't go so far as to say "now" matters more than eternity.
C O F F E E S H O PUntil Next Time
Be sure to check out the conclusion of my conversation with David in my next article.
Until then, keep asking the bigger questions.
- Old Testament: Exodus 14:13-14; 1 Chronicles 16:35; Isaiah 49:25-26; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:22-32
New Testament: Luke 19:10; Matthew 15:22-28; John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 9:24-26). Back^
Dr. Chris Leland is the Director of College & University Outreach for the Focus on the Family Institute and author of the Truth Lab. A Senior Fellow for Christian Worldview Studies, "Doc" Leland speaks around the country for Focus, debates people much smarter than himself, and enjoys outdoor activities with his wife and four sons.
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